No matter what, they will fight in tandem. They will watch each other's back. There is something genuinely satisfying about watching the heroes take out a room full of bad guys by working together.

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Characters who tend to do this are The Hero and The Lancer because they are foils to each other and so their fighting style complements the other. Even a mismatched Action Duo can be Bash Brothers with enough bonding/training.

It is not uncommon in certain stories to have two separate badasses who come together, spend some time trying to kill each other only to eventually turn their skills onto the hapless enemy who happens to piss them both off.

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The name comes from the world of sports, where it refers to a pair of great players who end up on the same team. The first use of the term was in Baseball, where Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire formed a dangerous duo for the late-1980s-early-1990s Oakland A's on account of their incredible (and, as it turned out, steroid-fueled) power hitting. It has since spread to other players and sports. And yes, this trope happens with female fighting duos as well, in which case we refer to them as Smash Sisters.

Examples

Reiner Braun, the Armored Titan and Zeke Yeager, the Beast Titan demonstrate this dynamic at the battle of Fort Slava, with the Armored providing brute force close-range attacks and protection while the Beast focuses on ranged attacks.

After the Time Skip Eren, the Attack Titan and Armin, the Colossal Titan. Over the course of three years, they evidently destroyed 32 ships sent by the Marleyans to spy on the Eldians. And according to Zeke, some of those ships were war ships.

Berserk has a few moments like this in later arcs, with Guts smashing headlong into the Monster of the Week while Serpico leaps around taking care of the Mooks.

While they're not as close friends as others, one episode had Chad and Uryu facing off against two foes. Originally, they were getting beat up hard. That is, until Uryu opted to switch opponents with Chad, seeing Chad's slow but strong style better on Uryu's opponent, and Uryu weak but fast style on Chad's.

Before the advent of Rukia and The Call Knows Where You Live and Ichigo turning into this unstoppable level-grinding machine, Ichigo and Chad also went bully hunting like this. They agreed years ago that if it wasn't okay to get in fights on their own behalves (and being redheaded and half-Mexican, respectively, they're major targets) they would always fight to protect each other. It's very sweet. Chad has spent the last two hundred chapters trying to be strong enough to keep this promise again. No dice.

As the Thousand Years Old Blood War advanced, Ichigo and Renji Abarai kinda fell into this trope. The biggest example is towards the end, when Renji explicitely promises to back Ichigo up as thanks for helping him rekindle his bond with Rukia, and immediately keeps his promise as they join a very complicated final fight that incliudes Yhwach and Aizen.

Gohan and Krillin are the best of friends and, particularly during the Saiyan and Namek arcs, a great example of bash brothers (though, ironically, Krillin is close friends with Gohan's father and is more of an extended uncle to Gohan). After the seven year time skip, the next generation of warriors Goten and Trunks are the newest set of bash brothers to the show.

Goku and Piccolo became this in an Enemy Mine situation against both Garlic Jr. and later against Raditz.

Burter and Jeice are the only members of the Ginyu Force who fight together rather than one-on-one, and have at least one Combination Attack. Unfortunately for them, their only on-screen fight is against Goku, who's way out of their league.

Goku and Vegeta play with this, but mostly in the movies (e.g Return of Cooler and Fusion Reborn) and especially the Majin Buu saga. It's a running theme that they're so hyper-competitive that their "teamwork" usually amounts to swapping in and out tag-team style, rather than fighting someone two-on-one (no matter the stakes).

Gohan and Piccolo spend a good chunk of the Tournament of Power as this. While Goku and Vegeta mostly do their own thing and only team up if they run into each other, Gohan and Piccolo make an effort to stick together and prove to be a very effective team.

Caulifla and Kale are the female Saiyans of Universe 6 that, unlike Goku and Vegeta, don't allow their differences in personalities to inter with cover each other's back. This equal partnership even culminates in using the Potara earrings to become a literal single fighting force.

In Endride, despite their absolutely endless bickering and occasional fistfights, Emilio and Shun end up becoming this trope as they fight the best at each other's backs—perhaps because it keeps them within insult range during battle.

In Gintama, this happens mostly during the serious episodes. Usually, Kagura and Shinpachi team up in the serious story arcs to deal with Mooks and the occasional Elite Mook.

The Benizakura Arc has Gintoki and Zura Katsura in a Back-to-Back Badasses moment, fighting against space pirates hired by Takasugi and then declaring war on Takasugi with the exact same words and in the exact same manner.

Kira and Athrun from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED do this several times, coordinating their attacks and defenses to the point of near-telepathy.

It helps that the Freedom and Justice are designed to work in tandem with each other, thus adding an extra layer to their status as this.

From Harlem Beat, we have Naruse-Sawamura duo both in their streetball and highschool team.

In Hunter × Hunter it was said that two members of the Genei Ryodan (Uvogin and Nobunaga Hazama) had this kind of relationship. They were at their strongest when they fought large groups of enemies together, though Uvogin would never admit it.

In the second last episode of Kotetsushin Jeeg, both Hiroshi Shiba (the original Jeeg pilot) and Kenji Kusanagi (the sequel's new pilot) are finally given the chance to both transform into their respective Super Robots, and what follows is an epic, epic double-teaming brawl.

Nagi and his team the Ala Rubra in Mahou Sensei Negima! fought like this. Negi and Kotaro have been developing a style like this since entering the colosseum as a team.

Mazinger Z has Kouji and Boss. They begin at odds with each other but quickly they become good friends and fight together; Great Mazinger has Tetsuya and boss, and later in the series, Tetsuya and Kouji; UFO Robo Grendizer gave us Kouji and Duke; And finally Mazinkaiser showed more examples of how devastating Kouji and Tetsuya are when they are fighting together.

Subverted in Naruto. It looks like Naruto and Sasuke are building into this, but then Sasuke pulled a FaceHeel Turn.

They revisit Naruto and Sasuke becoming this again in the battle with Obito and this time they succeed.

In Shippuden, Naruto has developed into this with Killer B, who is also this with A / the Raikage. It turns out they're not actually related - A adopted Bee because he was badass enough for their combat styles to mesh.

Ino-Shikamaru-Chouji is a better fit. They've been best friends for so long (since before they became ninjas), Chouji is able to pick up Shikamaru's strategies and prepare well before anyone else, Shikamaru knows just how to set up Ino's powers, and likewise Ino knows how to cover Chouji's weak points. By the time of the 4th Ninja World War, the trio's practically invincible.

Special mention to Gaara and Rock Lee who invoke Bash Brothers in their team-up against Bad with the Bone Kimimaro, made even cooler by the fact only one arc earlier they almost killed each other during the Chūnin Exams.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio even extends into their family. It's actually a tradition for three of the current generation to be put into a team together with a Sarutobi as their sensei.

And more recently, Kinkaku and Ginkaku. The two dead shinobi who survived being eaten by the Kyuubi for two weeks!

In One Piece, Zoro and Sanji are very much this. They may bicker in the midst of battle and occasionally attack each other, but once they work together (as shown in the Davy Jones games), they are near invincible.

Zoro and Sanji are so strong together that Chopper and Robin couldn't defeat their Shadows Jigoro and Inuppe in Thriller Bark.

The entirety of the Straw Hat Pirates are very capable at working together against foes. This aspect was heavily portrayed during the events at Thriller Bark and the Sabaody Archipelago.

Law and Luffy become this trope into the latter part of the Dressrosa saga With the fight against Doflamingo.

Sanji and Brook are Bash Brothers in Zou, to extent where Kaido's Beast Pirates flee as they're too strong.

In a similar vein Luffy and Zoro are Bash Brothers at the start of Wano.

Ranma ½ has a antagonistic version of this as a Villain of the Week arc. Azusa Shiratori and Mikado Sanzenine are masters of Martial Arts Figure Skating, a team known as the Golden Pair for their combined skill and excellent teamwork. Outside of combat, however, the two don't get on too well, as Mikado finds Azusa's kleptomania and ditzy antics annoying, while Azusa has the personality of a Spoiled Brat and is quite willing to beat on Mikado if he interferes with her antics (giving back something she stole from a pretty girl, or chasing girls when he should be practicing). In fact, she's ultimately the one who beats Mikado, causing them to lose.

Perhaps to highlight their Belligerent Sexual Tension, Ranma and Akane keep swinging between playing this straight and averting it. While they played it perfectly straight in the Martial Arts Figure Skating story, most if not all of their subsequent 'team battles' had them getting in each other's way and forgetting to pay attention to their enemies to squabble with each other (often over the fact Akane is Overshadowed by Awesome compared to Ranma and Can't Catch Up, yet refuses to admit this)... though, inevitably, they would pull together (if only after having been beaten once) and manage to pull off a victory, though their opponent would frequently come close to victory by taking advantage of their bickering.

Yu-Gi-Oh! had two pairs: The Paradox Brothers from the Duelist Kingdom arc and Lumis/Umbra from the Battle City arc. Joey and Yugi are this in their various tag team duels (heck, even their Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman show signs of it); a major problem in the Lumis/Umbra duel is Yugi and Kaiba's inability to pull this trope off. In the anime at least, Yugi and Kaiba eventually play this straight in their confrontations with both Dartz and Zorc.

This following upon several years of Kuwabara incessantly returning to challenge Yusuke to fights and getting his clock soundly cleaned. Yusuke has been known to do this with other members of his team, as well. Once very briefly with Hiei.

Sena and Monta from Eyeshield 21 are the best (respectively) runningback and wide receiver in Japan, best friends, and the keys to Deimon's offensive power. Needless to say, some of the Devilbat's best plays involve the two working together.

Of course, there are also the Ha-Ha Brothers who show signs of this, though they're a triple package. The moves they used in their first game, and continue to use, sink the "bash" part rather well. A more conventional example would be Tetsuma and The Kid of the Wild Gunmen, showing how epic their teamwork was in their first appearance.

Similar examples would be Taka and Yamato of the Teikoku Alexanders (another runningback/reciever duo), and the lethal three way combo of Takami (quarterback), Shin (linebacker/runningback), and Sakuraba (reciever) of the Ojou White Knights. The last three are especially interesting as Sakuraba and Shin, and Sakuraba and Takami are Bash Brothers by themselves; when their plays begin to intersect it simply becomes more of a problem for the other team. For a literal example, there's the Sibling Team of Agon and Unsui of the Shinryuuji Nagas.

Despite being the leaders on the opposite spectrum for talent, Agon and Hiruma are an effective combination. Agon who runs on pure reaction is complemented by Hiruma who runs on pure mental ability. Despite their hatred for each other, they work extremely well together.

The title characters of Tiger & Bunny become this once Kotetsu/Wild Tiger successfully wins Barnaby/"Bunny"'s trust in him.

In Air Gear, the original members of the Sleeping Forest all seem to fight in duos in ways that support each others' styles. Probably part of why they're one of the greatest Storm Rider teams in existence.

Kuroko no Basuke gives us Kuroko and Kagami. Often giving them the otp name; "Kagakuro"

Though this is noted to be rare in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, with most girls operating alone, this just makes the rare duos all the more dangerous. Mami and Kyouko were once this, but broke up after Kyouko's family died, and Mami's desire to find a new partner drives much of her motivation. By the time of Rebellion, Kyouko and Sayaka have become a fairly close pair, often employing Combination Attacks and apparently living in the same house. In Oriko Magica, Oriko and Kirika do this whenever Oriko isn't grounded by Power Incontinence. Fanon typically upgrades all of them into full-on Battle Couples.

Long before Madoka was doing it, Pretty Cure's most iconic teams were all either this trope or Battle Couples depending on who you ask. Black and White in particular occasionally used each other as weapons in the first season; on one occasion two monsters threw them at each other, so the girls locked elbows on impact and torqued their bodies around each other so they both went flying boots-first back the way they came.

While they start the series off as mortal enemies, Ryuko and Satsuki of Kill la Kill develop this dynamic when they join forces against their own mother, Ragyo. Bonus points for being literal Smash Sisters.

Shokugeki no Soma: Gin and Jouichiro where this during their school days, fighting with food, political influence and brute force to crawl out as the undisputed top dogs out of 1000 highly competitive trainee chefs.

Comic Books

Batman and Robin do this quite often. It was especially common in the live-action Batman series.

Examined in the World's Finest maxiseries; the first time they meet with the explicit purpose of working together, they're at a function as Bruce and Clark when the guest of honor, a world-famous plastic surgeon is kidnapped. They split up and both go after the kidnapper, which so spooks the hostage that he runs out into the street and gets himself killed. When they compare notes they both observe that this happened because they didn't work together. The rest of the series is about their annual meetings to honor their failure and learn to work together until they're working as a well-oiled machine. Some of their guilt is mitigated when they learn at the end of the maxiseries that said hostage was actually the surgeon's body double who had kidnapped and replaced the real man after giving him amnesia in an attempt to steal his fortune. The real reason he was so spooked was because he was afraid that Batman and Superman would expose his scheme.

In the X-Men, Colossus and Wolverine have the "Fastball Special" (sometimes called for with "Hey bub... two words"), which basically involves Colossus throwing Wolverine at an opponent. Other characters inside and outside of Marvel have occasionally borrowed the move. Basically any combo of a character with Super Strength and one with an Absurdly Sharp Blade or six can do this. In the extremely rare occasions that they're seeing eye to eye, Cyclops and Wolverine can do this quite well, though they end up as Red Oni, Blue Oni much more often.

Watchmen: Rorschach and Nite Owl II, in the old days. The bond they forged still lasts.

Spider-Man and Daredevil. The two have teamed up many times and they are best buddies. It helps that they both share a number of villains. (Their first ever collaboration was against an evil hypnotist who couldn't affect the blind Daredevil but made Spidey beat him up for a while.)

And their shared enemies the Enforcers featured Ox and Fancy Dan, who would often tag team enemies with their astounding strength and martial arts skills, respectively. Later additions Hammer Harrison and Snake Marston would do much the same.

Marvel's Zapata Brothers are Mexican wrestlers, so it's only to be expected that they have an array of team-up moves. They also enjoy high-fiving during melees and switching out as if they were in a tag team match.

Sam & Max: Freelance Police aren't fighters per se, but if there are doors to bust down and bad guys with lead deficiency, they'll deliver the damage together. Moreso in the comics, but they get rare moments in the video games, too.

Asterix and Obelix always team up together to beat up a bunch of Roman soldiers. While sometimes they have the village to fight with them, most of the time it's the two of them (and Dogmatix).

In Legacy, Cade Skywalker and Jariah Syn are this throughout his pirate and bounty hunting days, though on Jedi stuff Cade's fellow Padawan Shado Vao sometimes takes the role. Imperial Knights Antares Draco and Ganner Krieg almost always fight as an in-sync duo.

Wonder Woman and her younger sister, Donna Troy are this, and the two of them are building a similar relationship with Cassie Sandsmark, the second Wonder Girl. Donna and Dick Grayson are often written this way in the pages of Teen Titans.

The "A Dame To Kill For" storyline of Sin City features DwightMcCarthy and Marv as this. Subverted in that Marv does most of (if not all) the fighting.

Marv & Nancy get a moment of this in the second film adaptation. Again though, Marv does the majority of the fighting once they break into the Roark mansion, so it's subverted.

Fan Fiction

Heroes: Surak compares Kirk and Spock's relationship to the "warrior bond-brothers" he had observed in his own day.

Insontis II: Groping for a Vulcan term to explain his and Spock's relationship, Kirk settles on "pi'kine", which according to the footnotes, means "little shield-partner."

Tales of the Emperasque has all the returned Primarchs, although special mention has to go to Roboute and Corax as seen during the pacification of Terran Hives, where together they pretty much rip Fulgrim's assault to shreds.

Knights of the Old Republic fanfics play with the Mandalorian idea of "vod" (which can mean "brother/sister" or "friend") when it comes to Canderous and the rest of the crew, particularly Revan and/or Carth.

Film (Animated)

Manolo and Joaquin from The Book of Life, since they were kids. Not only do they playfully fight with each other, they also fight together against a common enemy, be it an angry bull as kids or when they fight Chakal as adults.

Film (Live Action)

Star Trek (2009): When Kirk and Spock beam onto the Narada and start shooting up everything in sight.

In Black Hawk Down and Real Life, the two Medal of Honor winning snipers, Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon live, breathe, and die this trope. From their hilarious-slash-Tear Jerker Chess game, which they never manage to finish, to their exchange of looks before they both deploy to aid the downed Night Stalker, the film makes the friendship of the two remarkably clear for two fairly minor characters.

Any cooperative combat in the Star Wars prequels, especially between Masters and their Padawans. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon against Darth Maul in Episode 1 are the best example. It is because of the same thing with Obi-Wan and Anakin in Episode 3 that turned their climactic duel into a sort of Fearful Symmetry.

The Expanded Universe had the Mandalorians play with the trope. Their term for "friend" is the same term for "sibling." If you've fought enough battles with a Mando'ad, then you're their sibling. No, blood ties or formal adoption is not a requirement. Their culture also sees all who follow the Mandalorian way as brothers and sisters in one big, war-mongering family.

Fulton Reed and Dean Portman in D2: The Mighty Ducks were explicitly called "the Bash Brothers."

Aragorn and Gimli did a fine example of this in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Needing to give a gate some time to be repaired, Aragorn and Gimli did a flying leap onto the ramp and proceeded to fight off an entire legion of Uruk-hai. One of the best sequences of many impressive ones in the trilogy.

One of the tag teams in Nacho Libre did a lot of this (also incorporating high-fives and the like), apparently being twin brothers.

One of the central motifs of Heroic Bloodshed movies like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Hard Boiled is two characters, usually Blood Brothers as well as Bash Brothers, doing this.

Italian actors Bud Spencer and Terence Hill tend to fight side-by side in the action comedies they co-star in.

In The Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick and Kyra are a rare opposite sex version of this, once they stop fighting each other. The Crematoria sequence showcases it nicely.

Pirates of the Caribbean had this in various sequences, but the most pure form was when Will was trying to free Jack from the noose in the The Curse of the Black Pearl and they raced to the castle edge. They had taken down plenty of soldiers between the two of them, but sheer numbers and guns outweighed their ability to finish their job.

300 outlines this in particular when discussing their tactics. The individual Spartan is superior to the individual Persian soldier, but their sheer numbers would overwhelm them in any situation except for the bottleneck position they chose to defend. Even then, only because each Spartan defended the one next to them that they created a near impenetrable line... of course, they don't always follow this rule, often preferring the Rule of Cool and breaking the line for slow-motion individual brawls.

In Iron Man 2, Tony and Rhodey become this after finally settling their differences, taking down Ivan Vanko and his army of Hammer Drones. They continue to be this in Captain America: Civil War as they hunt down the fugitive Avengers after the group goes through a fallout.

Steve and Bucky were this back in Captain America: The First Avenger and become this again when Bucky is freed from brainwashing and on the run for his crime as the Winter Soldier in Captain America: Civil War.

Black Widow and Hawkeye in The Avengers once Hawkeye is back on the Avengers' side.

Thor and Captain America act at this during the battle of New York during The Avengers.

Thor and the Hulk also act as this during The Avengers, and continue to in Thor: Ragnarok during the Sakaarian Gladiator Games and the invasion of Asgard.

In The Devil's Rejects, a pair of bounty hunters called the Unholy Two are hired to track down and capture the Ax-Crazy Firefly clan. They actually succeed and disappear afterwards with no repercussions.

The films The Barbarians and Double Trouble starring the bodybuilder twins Peter and David Paul have their characters constantly bickering with each other and kicking equal amount of ass in fight scenes. This is taken even further in Twin Sitters, where their characters call backup from two other duos of twin bash brothers to save two kids from the bad guys.

As pack animals, the Raptor Squad from Jurassic World hunt and fight as a team, best seen when hunting Hoskin's team or when Delta and Echo battle the Indominus rex. Later, Blue teams up with Mama Rex to tag-team the Indominus.

Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri can operate like this, much to their mutual displeasure. They're both highly skilled dual-wielders who independently developed extremely similar fighting styles...And it took them about five minutes of conversation for each to recognize the other as what he could have been. Both don't like what they see in the other person, especially when compared to what they see as their strong points. However, if they must cooperate, they slaughter entire groups of who they're against. Often fighting back-to-back and continually moving, and with one setting up an opening for the other to exploit a second later, and it's mentioned that they move so much in sync that it's tough to tell who's who or who's doing what.

As can Artemis and Jarlaxle Baenre, although their fighting styles are slightly more different, with Jarlaxle's style also incorporating throwing knives, misdirection, and a Hyperspace Arsenal of magic items and wands. Additionally, Entreri is on the other side of their Teeth-Clenched Teamwork, having gone through some Character Development and seeing Jarlaxle as what he used to be, (albeit a more charismatic and witty version) and Jarlaxle, being a bon vivant and trickster to the extreme, sees Entreri as an opportunity to have a roaring good time.

Rodrigo Belmonte and Ammar ibn Khairan in Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan literally fight back to back at one point, taking out some mooks to prove their awesomeness. Later, they're forced to fight one another as the champions of Expys of the Muslims and Christians in medieval Spain.

In the Inheritance Cycle, Eragon and Murtagh shared the field of battle many times early in the series and developed a bond as strong as brotherhood. It wasn't too surprising when they turned out to actually be brothers.

A more consistent example is Eragon and Arya. It's explicitly stated that they're the other's perfect shield mate.

Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson]] are a classic case. Just check out the "Awesome" page for the series and note the examples falling under "Holmes & Watson".

Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy become this, because Harry is a magic nerd who really has no idea at all about women. It's lampshaded as pretty sad several times throughout the series.

The Alphas: they're a pack of wolves with human-level intelligence. Be. Afraid.

Harry and Thomas Raith become this. like the Eragon example, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that they're half-brothers.

Thomas and Lara Raith in full vamped-out mode cut through an army of super-ghouls like chaff. Harry describes them as matched parts of a force of nature, their stand all the more beautiful and awe-inspiring for being totally hopeless.

Spenser and Hawk from Robert B Parker's stories

Argus and Ribuld from Mordant's Need are so inseparable that they are practically a single entity - and together they are good enough in a fight that they can hold their own, at least for a while, against the most skilled and feared swordsman in the world.

In Season Nine's Angel and Faith, Angel and Faith have this kind of relationship.

Game of Thrones: Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon were fostered together by Jon Arryn and fought this way in the war against the Targaryens and later fought side by side when they laid siege on the castle of Pyke. When Robert found himself pinned down at Stoney Sept, Ned led the Roaring Rampage of Rescue. It's verySerious Business when Ned declares, "I will not follow you now," in "The Wolf and the Lion".

Life On Mars- Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt have been known to achieve this on occasion.

On occasion? Tandem desk-leaping & sychronized punching.

The A-Team. Very much so. Hannibal knows the strengths and weaknesses of each of the other three team members, and knows exactly how to best use their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Different as they may be, when they all fight together, it's a bad day for slimeballs everywhere.

Face and Murdock especially seem to be this. They have a very effective tag-team fighting style.

Doubly so for Murdock and B.A. They usually drive each other nuts, but together they are a force of nature.

The Stargate Atlantis episode "Midway." A horde of Wraith decide to storm Earth, and slaughter most of Midway station staff. Who's gonna stop 'em? Two guys named Teal'c and Ronon Dex. The opening featured the two of them trying to beat each other to death but they later turn their combined badassery on the hapless Wraith.

NCIS: Los Angeles: G. Callen and Sam Hanna always have each other's back. They bicker sometimes and have a friendly rivalry, but always come through for one another.

It's always a treat to watch the four team members of Stargate SG-1 combine to unleash maximum badassness on their enemies.

In the Battlestar Galactica episode "The Oath": Bill Adama and Saul Tigh make a last stand at a docking bay even though they don't pull off a victory.

Hawaii Five-O. Steve Mc Garrett and Danny "Danno" Williams argue like an old, married couple - but they always have each other's back in a fight, and God help anyone who comes between them.

In any Kamen Rider series, expect the main Rider and the secondary Rider to eventually become this. More prominent in the Heisei shows, where it's pretty much the norm for any given show to have at least two riders of its own, but the Showa era had a few of its own like the Double Riders when they were onscreen together, and V3 and Riderman when the latter figured out he should be fighting all of Destron and not just the one guy he had a grudge against.

Norse Mythology: In the many stories where they weren't beating the crap out of each other, Thor and Loki often wandered the countryside together, looking for asses to kick. A relationship thought by some to be evocative of Lightning and Fire. Loki also had a great time tag-teaming with his blood-brother, Odin.

Classical Mythology has the brothers Peleus and Telamon, who were admired as great warriors and frequent allies of Heracles. Their sons would later become Bash Cousins, as Peleus's son Achilles fought alongside Telamon's sons Ajax the Greater and Teucer in the siege of Troy. While Achilles was the legendary badass who slew the Trojan champion Hector in single combat, Ajax was only slightly below Achilles in terms of skill, and nearly fought and killed Hector first.

Detective Dick Tracy and his partner Sam Catchem. Sam is actually his second partner. In the early days, he was teamed with Pat Patton, who was later promoted to Police Chief.

Other

To a degree with a well-trained military unit. Most special forces teams are trained this way, covering what their buddies can't. No tossing each other around though as far as I know.

Fighter aircraft usually fight in pairs, the wingman covering the leader.

And also operate in pairs of pairs - a common formation for fighter aircraft (at least in World War II) has four aircraft forming a flight, in which there are two elements, each with two aircraft constantly covering each other, and each element covering the other. Two well-known formations of this type are the American Finger Four (origin of the name: hold out your hand, fingers together. If each fingernail represents one aircraft, that shape is basically a Finger Four formation) and the German Schwarm (basically identical, just appeared earlier on). The Germans' early adoption of this sort of formation led to some early, easy victories against the Royal Air Force.

The Dudley Boys, though the misrepresentation was tongue in cheek and deliberate.

Several other tag teams, while not related at all, real or kayfabe, are inseparable in the minds of fans because they never found or sought individual success. They fought together through thick and thin.

Dungeons & Dragons: in the typical Fighter-Rogue-Wizard-Cleric party, the Fighter and Rogue fight most efficiently together in a manner similar to this - the fighter directing the battle and drawing the attention of his targets while the rogue tumbles into an advantageous position to deal massive Sneak Attack damage.

Magic: The Gathering would frequently set up two cards that are designed to complement each other and other cards controlled by the player in this way. The most pure form is the Brothers Yamazaki from the Kamigawa set, in which the one Legendary per name on the field rule doesn't apply to them and they give each other a major boost when together.

Star Wars Miniatures has some pairs of characters who have Synergy (combat bonuses) or Rapport (cost discounts) when used together. There is also a tournament format called "Dynamic Duo", in which players select only two characters for their squad, who must together cost exactly 100 points.

Warhammer 40,000 has a few unit combinations that compliment each others' skills very effectively. Scout Bikers and Terminators in a Space Marine army, for instance; the Scouts have teleport homers that patch up the Terminators' lack of mobility by dropping them on the enemy on a spot that moves very quickly, the Terminators make up for the Scouts' lack of durability and close combat prowess, everyone wins. Except for the poor Tau on the other side of the field that just got a new orifice to defecate through.

Encouraged by BattleTech's Dual Cockpit teams, where a duo of Mechwarriors combine their talents to pilot one 'Mech, very similar to the pilot and weapons/radar officer duo in tandem seat jets. Because bonuses are granted for having both pilots in the same 'Mech fighting together, it usually ends up being the case that both pilots will stick together together outside the 'Mech as well. According to the fluff pilots tend to synchronize before long due to sharing activity outside of the 'Mech and neurohelmet patterns inside it.

X-Wing Miniatures often designs characters who are close allies in order to work together well. Jan Ors as a HWK-290 pilot can generate bonus dice for others in exchange for gaining stress, while her long-time partner Kyle Katarn's crew card means that you'll get focus tokens when that stress goes away. The reverse arrangement is also synergistic: Kyle as a pilot lets you give away focus tokens, and Jan as a crew upgrade lets you choose to make them evade tokens instead if you'd prefer. Bounty hunting allies Zuckuss and 4-LOM are designed with similar synergy in mind: pilot Zuckuss lets you get attack dice while crew 4-LOM reduces their ability to modify those dice, and if arranged the other way crew Zuckuss lets you generate stress and pilot 4-LOM lets you give it away again. This continues into the The Force Awakens era: with the forthcoming "Heroes of the Resistance" box, Rey's pilot ability lets you reroll blanks that Finn's crew card will give you - as long as you have the enemy in your fire arc, anyway.

This is one way that Tabletop Game/Exalted's Solar-Lunar Bond can manifest. The bond links each Solar Exaltation to a particular Lunar Exaltation and the only certain thing about the bond, should Fate successfully bring the two together, is that it is a strong emotional bond between the two demigod-like Exalted. And a Bash Brothers bromance certainly fits the bill.

Warhammer Fantasy has several 'dual' legends, consisting of two named and unique characters that canonically fit together. While Vlad and Isabella are more of a Battle Couple, the others mostly fit under this. The most famous are of course Gotrek and Felix, but there's also Kroq-Gar and Grymloq, Karl Franz and Deathclaw, Eltharion and Stormwing, and Louen and Bequis.

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is built on doing this in a racing game. Each kart has two racers: a driver and a support. They function as one when one person is playing, but if two players decide to go co-op on one kart, racing ability is expanded with one player driving and both players mashing the control stick to achieve miniturbos. The first player can pass items he gets back to the second player, who focuses on using them and can also punch left and right to move the kart a little in those directions to dodge things, attack other players, and steal items.

Fire Emblem Awakening allows the player to make any two characters into Bash Brothers or Smash Sisters with the Pair Up / Dual system. The more often you do it, or they even stand next to each other, the more often they'll either defend each other from enemy attacks preventing all damage, or double team a enemy offensively. Do it often enough between a male and female duo and they'll eventually get married.

The multiplayer campaign options of the Gears of War series features a storyline that kept the main character Marcus with his buddy Dom. A big part of the gameplay involves you yelling at your co-op buddy to cover you while you move forward.

Halo 3 has the Arbiter fighting next to Master Chief for much of the game in single player, and all of the game in co-op. You can even include a pair of unique, though undeveloped Elite characters online and play four person co-op. This is in contrast to Halo 2 where the game has no in-universe reason why a second Spartan accompanies you on the campaign.

Also from Halo, the Hunters always come in pairs. In most of the games, they are identically equipped and colored. Halo 3: ODST changes this: Hunters can either come in the standard blue armor and fuel rod cannon that they had in Halo 3 or in gold armor and with an explosive fuel rod gun like all Hunters had in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante and Vergil against Arkham. They even say "Jackpot" at the same time.

BioShock 2: As Subject Delta, you are probably the biggest, meanest, and most well armed and armored thing that ever walked through the halls of Rapture. In the last level you get the 11th-Hour Superpower plasmid that is rightfully described as "It's Bring Your Daughter To Work Day". Together with Eleanor even hordes of Brutes, Alphas, and Houdinis don't last against you for more than a few seconds.

World of Warcraft has a few of these as bosses, forcing the players to defeat two enemies working together, effectively turning them into one meta-boss encounter. The Eredar Twins in Sunwell Plateau and more memorably the Twin Emperors of Ahn'Qiraj are boss encounters with two powerful enemies, the battle commonly known as the Bug Trio of Ahn'Qiraj, as the name implies, pits three enemies against the players, the final battle of the Death Knight wing of Naxxramas is against the Four Horsemen-Sir Zeliek, Thane Korthazz, Lady Blameux, and Baron Rivendare (who replaced Highlord Mograine), and from the Crimson Halls of Icecrown Citadel, the Blood Prince Council (super upgraded and revived versions of Blood-Princes Valanar, Taldaram, and Keleseth).

Cataclysm's Blackwing Descent raid instance has you fighting the reanimated Nefarian after he also brings his sister Onyxia back to life. Just to drive the point home, they attack twice as fast by just being in close proximity to eachother.

One of the attract cinemas for Tekken 5 shows Kazuya and Heihachi battling an army of Jack cyborgs, until Kazuya throws an exhausted Heihachi their way to secure his escape.

Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon are famous dor this thanks to the game's co-op availability, which allows two players to play as both of them and kick ass.

Sonic and Tails have been doing this since Sonic 2, and Sonic and Knuckles often invoke this when they get over their differences and work together, likewise for Sonic and Shadow on occasion. Meanwhile, Amy and Cream often act as Smash Sisters.

Sonic & Tails are back to their Bash Brother antics in Sonic 4: Episode 2, and aside from the classic Tails-carrying-Sonic tactic, they can create a dual spin dash.

Team Dark (Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega) being the Fire ForgedTrue Companions that they are exemplify this probably stronger than Sonic and Tails do.

Sonic Heroes in general is built upon this as it's core mechanic, with all the playable characters being gathered into trios of Bash Brothers (and Sisters) with each character filling a specific role that the others can't. By the time you reach the final levels, you'll be expected to be swapping between roles on the fly with perfect synergy to get a good rank at the end.

Some sections of Half-Life 2 and Episode 2 and nearly all of HL2: Episode 1 have Gordon and Alyx working in tandem.

In Banjo-Kazooie, the titular pair invoke this trope despite one-half of the duo being female; they perform almost all their moves by working together, and are actually literally inseparable all throughout the first game.

In Vile's story mode in Mega Man X Maverick Hunter X the final boss is X and Zero fighting together. Sometimes they'll strategically swap places, but they'll also release attacks together or release them from opposite sides of the screen to trap you. When the boss health bar gets low enough, one of them will fall, but that's really not a good thing ...

You get four neatly-labelled ones, with the four-way split of your team of eight, being Zidane and Quina, Garnet and Eiko ( true sibling summoners), Freya and Amarant and Steiner and Vivi. Special mention goes to Steiner and Vivi because of their in-game sword magic command combination.

Double Bash Brothers moment when Zorn and Thorn decide to mess with Eiko and Mog.

There's an implied Bash Brothers relationship between Blank and Zidane, but because Blank isn't one of your main characters, it never appears.

One iconic moment sees Steiner and Beatrix protecting Alexandria together by bashing in the heads of many, many Mistodons.

Alex and Ryan in River City Ransom. In Japan, they're known asKunio and Riki and they continued to team up in later games (such as in Nekketsu Kakuto Densetsu and Nekketsu! Street Basket) whenever they were not competing as rivals.

Gan Ning and Ling Tong evolve from mortal enemies into a grudging version of this. Perhaps most notably at the battle of Shi Ting in DW6, where if you kill one half of the pair the other will become enraged and go into hyper mode. Even before that, they were featured in the opening to Xtreme Legends.

The fight's a bit more metaphorical in Ace Attorney, but Detective Badd refers to his partner Prosecutor Faraday as his "battle-buddy" due to the many legal battles they've fought together.

Phoenix and Edgeworth fall under this too; they may usually fight against each other in court, but there are several times when Edgeworth helps Phoenix achieve the proper verdict and its obvious how well they work together, with Phoenix jumping to illogical (but correct) conclusions and Edgeworth helping him back up his claims.

Apollo and Klavier are this, starting the first time they encounter each other in court.

Team Fortress 2: There's a reason why the Heavy and Medic pairing is one of the most iconic.

The Scout grew up with Seven older brothers who would roam Boston and get in fights. His speed training was for getting to the fights before they ended.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 featured this as a mechanic; on the story mode world map, letting two characters with a pre-existing relationship occupy the same space would give one or both of them a stat boost in combat, implying they were looking out for each other.

The upcoming Battle of Z will do this by having simultaneous four-player cooperative battles. The game trailer even suggests making teams out of Goku's whole family, or just of a single character's many forms.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse: This will be the case if your Time Patroller happens to be male. The Time Patroller (regardless of their gender) will team up with certain warriors through out the various quests. The story mode has three particular examples: First, Son Goku who you team up with the most, and during the normal ending, the Time Patroller and Goku defeat the Final Boss together; second, Trunks who is the Time Patroller's partner; and finally SSJ4 Gogeta who claims to have formed the ultimate tag team with the Time Patroller.

Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect, acknowledged in-universe in the third game. (It becomes a Battle Couple if they're romanced.)

Shepard: There's no Shepard without Vakarian.

Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten actually integrates this into gameplay with Valvatorez and Fenrich. Apart from starting with a very high likelihood of initiating team attacks with each other, all three of Fenrich's passive abilities are based on Valvatorez's status or positioning (ie. getting a 30% stat boost for standing next to him).

Batman: Arkham Knight made this a gameplay element. Build up enough of a hit streak during a fight where an ally is also in the melee, trigger a character switch, and the two characters will perform a ridiculously cool cooperative maneuver to take out one of the opponents before control switches to the second character.

The Cursed Crusade features the Templar Knight Denz de Bayle, and the Spainish mercenary Esteban Noviembre, who is either computer controlled or the second player character. There are several moves that require both of them, including having one hold onto an enemy so the other can kill it, or them healing each other.

Conversed by NPCs in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The player character Ryder has an opposite sex twinnote A brother named Scott if a female Ryder, and a sister named Sara if a male Ryder who is also your successor as Pathfinder. Due to events at the beginning of the game involving a Negative Space Wedgie, they are in a coma for the first half of the game and recuperating until they get abducted during the final battle. During the post game, Jaal and Liam discuss how awesome it will be when both Ryders take to the field.

Webcomics

Ciro and Kareem from Project0, bust into an enemy stronghold and divy up how they complete the mission. apparently they've been doing this for a long time.

Torg and Riff from Sluggy Freelance do this during the "Dangerous Days" arc, though only after they get done shooting and yelling at each other first.

It's hinted that Piro and Largo do this in some online games, such as the Endgames MMORPG.

Invoked in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, where to counter Frans Rayner's use of the Conservation of Ninjutsu against the McNinja clones, Dr. McNinja switches sides and fights alongside a shocked and confused Rayner, who has no choice but to accept this or else give up and let the clones kill him.

Steve of Coga Suro is delighted both times he gets to invoke this trope- once in the future with his older self [citing the need for a double-Steve combo move] and again in the sequel with his son.

Bill and Barry Heterodyne. Alone they were heroic, powerful Sparks. Together they changed the world, and their family's legacy, for the better. And despite their disappearance remain almost universally loved and feared.

We only get to see it in brief flashbacks, but My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has Princesses Celestia and Luna taking down Discord and King Sombra. There was also Tirek, but they may have acted more as commanding officers rather than taking action personally in that case for all we know.

In the Crystal War timeline from "The Cutie Remark, Part 1", Maud and Pinkie Pie are literally Smash Sisters.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In the 2007 TMNT movie, Splinter even said that when they work together and are in the right rhythm, they are unbeatable.

Raphael from the 2003 cartoon is very dedicated to this trope. While all the Turtles cooperate in battle, he stands out as an especially reliable back-watcher. In nearly every fight, Raph will prevent an enemy from nailing one of his brothers from behind. Lampshaded by Donatello in one occasion:

Raph: Watch your back, brainiac!

Don: (laughs) Isn't that what you're for, Raph?

Turtles Forever takes this to the apex with the '03 Turtles eventually fighting in tandem with the '87 Turtles, and the '03 style of straight ninja fighting is contrasted with the '87 slapstick style, with both being equally efficient.

Transformers Animated with Prowl and Captain Fanzone when they go to Dinobot Island and have to fight off a slew of mutated creatures. It was that episode that gave some viewers a lot of respect for Fanzone, because even though he didn't like them he was still willing to work with them.

In-universe, this was probably part of why Fanzone started actually liking the Autobots, or at least tolerating them. In a later episode he even sided with them against Powell.

Another example is the big guy-little guy team of Bulkhead and Bumblebee. They've been close friends ever since attending Autobot Boot Camp together, and are usually seen watching each others' backs on and off the battlefield. The two have even developed their own variation on the Fastball Special utilizing Bulkhead's wrecking ball hands and Bumblebee's smaller stature.

Transformers Prime has the villains Knock Out and Breakdown, whose introductory episode had them nearly take down the entire team, including Optimus, by themselves. They are extremely close friends outside of battle too, contrasting the fractured and "out for themselves" Decepticon forces.

The main reason the Autobots are able to match the Decepticons despite being at a disadvantage both in firepower and numbered forces is because they have bonded closely as a team. Each of them can pair off with the other in combat. The third season episode "Evolution" not only features an epic Bash Brothers with previously at-odds characters Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus, Optimus asserts that their bond as a family is what makes them more dangerous than an entire army.

Optimus and Megatron always become this whenever they are both thrust into an Enemy Mine situation against a greater foe.

Katara and Zuko in "The Southern Raiders". They are seen training back to back in the finale as well, but don't actually fight together as Azula challenges them to one-on-one duels instead.

In The Legend of Korra, Mako and Bolin are actual brothers, and hand out asskicking like a pro team. They've graduated to this status in Books 3 and 4, since they hardly spent time with each other in previous books.

Korra and Asami are this too, mostly in Book 3 when Mako and Bolin pair off.

Lin and Suyin, once they settle their differences, are almost always fighting together in major battles, such as double-teaming P'Li in Season 3 or helping cripple Kuvira's Humongous Mecha in Season 4.

Wei and Wing, who are also actual brothers, are this every time they accompany their mother Suyin.

Luminara and Bariss Ofee in Star Wars: Clone Wars. Their lightsaber fight against the battle droids showed them to be perfectly synchronized.

Other expanded universe material unveils that the two of them specifically learned to fight like this.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars gives us more of these moments between Obi-Wan and Anakin. They work in perfect tandem whenever they go up against a foe together, Dooku being the most often.

The SWAT Kats live this trope, though only rarely are they actually fighting in the same room at the same time. When they do, T-Bone acts as The Big Guy and goes at baddies with fist swinging, while the slighter Razor relies on a quicker, more acrobatic fighting style. The rest of the time, their approach to a problem will still always depend on their teamwork (whether it's air/ground, or piloting/weapons). If one kat is in serious trouble (or worse, unresponsive), the other will get very distressed and might channel that into a "this is for my buddy!" attack.

Joey and AP from Atomic Puppet. As Atomic Puppet, they're a two-in-one superhero who take on anyone that threatens Mega City and make them pay with a one-way trip to the Sun.

Superman and Captain Marvel. Their initial efforts to take out the more experienced and ruthless Black Adam separately doesn't work well for the pair. However, once they start working together, they eventually find their rhythm and proceed to lay down a beautiful beat down on him. It was a pleasant contrast to other animated showings of the characters where the two heroes end up fighting each other.

In the US, there is an old saying, "A friend will help you move, a good friend will help you move bodies, and a brother will have the bodies moved before it occurs to him to ask why the hell you need bodies moved."

Another variant: "A friend will visit you in jail, a good friend will bail you out, but a bro will be sitting beside you going 'Damn, that was fun!'".

Many Ice Hockey forward lines embody a three-brother party. One of many examples would be the "Crash Line" of the New Jersey Devils teams of the 90s and early 2000s. The Crash Line was composed of Bobby Holik, Randy McKay, and Mike Peluso; the average weight of a Crash Line player was 215 pounds. Needless to say, the Crash Line was a dominating, physical and ultimately instrumental part to the Devils' championship success. They were extremely successful and provided the "grind line" defensive template that is used to this day.

The "grind line" terminology was derived from the Detroit Red Wings—who, after being destroyed by the Crash Line in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals, quickly adopted the same techniques and established the original Grind Line of Kris Draper, Joe Kocur, and Kirk Maltby. This line led them to two straight Cups in 1997 and 1998 (and another Cup in 2002 after Darren McCarty had succeeded Kocur on the line) and permanently encoded this technique in the essence of the game.

In the late 1980s, Bob Probert and Joey Kocur of the Red Wings were sometimes referred to as "the Bruise Brothers".

When they both played for the Oakland A's, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were nicknamed "The Bash Brothers" for their one-two punch when put together in the line-up.

Recently in the NBA, a variant of the term has entered use for describing the Golden State Warriors guard pairing of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson - The Splash Brothers, referencing the pair's incredible three-point shooting.

This in turn led to Oklahoma City Thunder bigs Steven Adams and Enes Kanter being called the "Stache Brothers", from their very notable facial hair.

Despite the common depiction of a Cold Sniper acting alone, dedicated snipers are always deployed with a spotter, someone who can confirm the kill because the actual sniper is too preoccupied with making the shot itself. They are also one to advise on which bullet to use and what modifications to make depending on the situation, as well as double-check the distance to the target.

In fact, in many situations the spotter is the more experienced soldier, as the spotter's work is more complicated, which is saying something since doing the actual shooting isn't simple point-and-shoot to begin with.

In social situations there is a strategy involving using the Wingman, a friend that can give even the most skilled of Casanovas an added edge. Generally, they give a mutual benefit to each other by highlighting each others' strengths, as well as ensuring that neither are completely alone.

The United States and Australia. The Boisterous Bruisers of the English-speaking world, priding themselves primarily on how awesome they can be rather than how "civilized" they are. The Australia-US alliance is one of the strongest in the world—possibly stronger than even the US-Canada and US-Britain ones. Since World War I, the US and Australia have always fought beside each other (even if the US was late to the party the first two times, one implies the other).

...But that still doesn't mean you should shake a stick at the US-UK Special Relationship. After the two stopped fighting, they instantly agreed to bury the hatchet and become pals, and now either side can be guaranteed to back the other up. Some conflicts aside, the two will always be found together, pulling the other's butt out of the oven once shit hits the fan. There's always some guaranteed Ho Yay between the two leaders of the respective countriesexcept during the two periods in which the UK has had a woman occupying No. 10. And the first of the two women of Downing Street was Margaret Thatcher, widely seen as matching any man for toughness.

The Anglosphere is built around this, military-wise. Each of the above-mentioned countries can and have engaged in some truly impressive feats during countless battles through numerous wars. The US and Canada had bi-national special forces units during World War II, Canada and Great Britain fought together in the trenches to great success during World War I. Australia and New Zealand (and Newfoundland) fought heroically at Gallipoli (though that ended tragically, they earned the respect and admiration of the Turks). America and Great Britain, as mentioned above, have numerous conflicts in which they did this, as have America and Australia. Australia and Canada also did this at Kapyong during The Korean War, proving how awesome they could truly be. It helps that the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have numerous military (and non-military) treaties and agreements that help to enable this trope. On top of NATO and The Commonwealth of Nations, there is the UKUSA Agreement, AUSCANZUKUS, Five Eyes, ABCA Armies, Combined Communications Electronics Board, just to name a few. All of this adds up to make these nations a terrifying Bash Family.

People often forget this, but the alliance older than US-Britain, US-Canada, or US-Australia? The United States and France. The reason being is that France was the United State's first ally, going all the way back to The American Revolution - even if it was originally a political move to screw over Britain. Of all the alliances both countries have had, this one is one of the longest. In fact, one of the most iconic "American" icons, the Statue of Liberty, was donated to the United States by France. Time and again, both countries have come to the other's aid in their time of need, and the solidarity between the two is very well-known. Much like the US-Australia relations, they may not always get along well, more so because of the US' predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture, but at the end of the day, they always help each other out.

The UK and France. While inhabitants of both nations profess to dislike the other intensely, with still popular offensive nicknames 'Frogs' (derived from the French eating frog's legs) and 'Rosbifs' (the latter derived from the famous British love of roast beef and habit of burning in the sun), and sporting contests being a source of intense rivalry, the two nations are much closer than either would like to admit, with five centuries of English Kings having land in France - and de facto French Kings ruling England - from 1066 to the fall of Calais breeding a special connection. French used to be an expected language of anyone who was anyone in England, and is still the most commonly taught foreign language in the UK, while the reverse is true in France - and it is now near required for success in the business world. Millions of inhabitants of both countries go on holiday to the other each year and hundreds of thousands of citizens of both countries reside in the other. And following about 800 years of kicking the crap out of each other, from The Crimean War onwards, they've gone from reluctant allies to, following the World War I and World War II, tighter than brothers - and while they enjoy winding each other up, they will be the first to support each other in the event of a tragedy.

To illustrate, France responded to the 7/7 bombings by labelling the attackers 'savages' and instantly offering 'immediate, full and total collaboration of French services in helping you identify the authors of these crimes.' Britain, meanwhile, responded to the 2015 Bataclan gun attacks with similar promises and at a scheduled football friendly between England and France played at Wembley a matter of days later, usually an occasion of intense rivalry, the entire stadium was lit up in red, white and blue, the motto of the French Republic was emblazoned on the side, the usual giant St George's Cross at the home end was replaced by a French tricolore, the stadium was filled with banners along the lines of 'we stand by you'and after the impeccably observed minute of silence, the English fans all joined in the singing of La Marseillaise - fittingly, a stirring call to arms. Barely two weeks later, the previously reluctant British Parliament, which had defeated a previous motion along the same lines two years before, voted to extend air strikes against ISIS to their heartlands in Syria and RAF bombers were in the air within the hour. They may bicker incessantly, but if you go after one of these countries, you'll face the immediate vengeful wrath of the other - and since both are still among the most powerful nations on the planet, this is not a fight you want to pick.

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